The Rohani Administration has changed the picture on the back of the 50,000-rial banknote and sparked a huge political kafuffle.
The old note carried the international nuclear symbol and a religious honor to Iran’s nuclear program. The new note shows the gates of the University of Tehran and a poetic paean to education.
Hardliners see a secret agenda here to give away Iran’s nuclear program to the untrustworthy Americans in the ongoing negotiations.
The symbol of atomic energy was placed on the 50,000-rial bill in 2008 during the administration of Mahmud Ahmadi-nejad with a saying attributed to the Prophet Mohammad: “Even if knowledge is hidden somewhere in space, men from the land of Pars will discover it.”
The new bill shows the university gates and a famous Ferdowsi verse that translates: “True power derives from wisdom and through knowledge old hearts are rendered young again.”
Iranian hardliners see the change as a mark of capitulation in the nuclear negotiations. Some have even referred to it as treasonous and insulting to the nuclear martyrs, referring to Iranian nuclear scientists assassinated in recent years, killings that Iran attributes to Israel.
The Central Bank has said the new image on the bill is in celebration of Tehran Univer-sity’s 80th anniversary and the background images are symbols of the various departments of the university. They said the verse from Ferdowsi is a mark of Iran’s historic regard for science and the pursuit of knowledge.
The Central Bank said the new bill will come into circulation this spring. It is worth $1.50.
